Typical semantic relations within a converted pair

I. Verbs converted from noun (denominal verbs) denote:

1. action characteristic of the object
ape (n) — to ape (v)

butcher (n) — to butcher (v)

2. instrumental use of the object
screw (n) — to screw (v)
whip (n) — to whip (v)

3. acquisition or addition of the object
fish (n) — to fish (v)

II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal nouns) denote:

1. instance of the action
to jump (v) -jump (n)
to move (v) — move (n)

2. agent of the action
to help (v) - help (n)

to switch (v) - switch (n)

3. place of action

to drive (v) — drive (n) to walk (v) - walk (n)

4. object or result of the action
to peel (v) -peel (n)

to find (v) —find (n)

The shortening of words involves the shortening of both words and word-groups. Distinction should be made between shortening of a word in written speech (graphical abbreviation) and in the sphere of oral intercourse (lexical abbreviation). Lexical abbreviations may be used both in written and in oral speech. Lexical abbreviation is the process of forming a word out of the initial elements (letters, morphemes) of a word combination by a simultaneous operation of shortening and compounding.

Clipping consists in cutting off two or more syllables of a word. Words that have been shortened at the end are called apocope (doc - doctor, vet - veterinary). Words that have been shortened at the beginning are called aphaeresis (phone-telephone). Words in which some syllables or sounds have been omitted from the middle are called syncope (ma 'm - madam, specs - spectacles). Sometimes a combination of these types is observed (tec - detective, frig - refrigerator).

Blendings (blends, fusions or portmanteau words) may be defined as formation that combine two words that include the letters or sounds they have in common as a connecting element (slimnastics = slim+gymnastics; mimsy= miserable+flimsy). The process of formation is also called telescoping. The analysis into immediate constituents is helpful in so far as it permits the definition of a blend as a word with the first constituent represented by a stem whose final part may be missing, and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing. The second constituent when used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix -on; is, for instance, well under way in such terms as nylon, rayon, silon, formed from the final element of cotton. This process seems to be very active in present-day English word-formation numerous new words have been coined recently: Reaganomics, Irangate, blackploitation, workaholic.

Back formation is a semi-productive type of word-building. It is mostly active in compound verbs, and is combined with word-composition. The basis of this type of word-building is compound words and word-combinations having verbal nouns, gerunds, participles or other derivative nouns as their second component {rush-development, finger-printing, well-wisher). These compounds and word-combinations are wrongly considered to be formed from compound verbs which are nonexistent in reality. This gives a rise to such verbs as: to rush-develop, to finger-print, to well-wish.

Onomatopoeia (sound-imitation, echoism) is the naming of an action or thing by a more or less exact reproduction of a natural sound associated with it {babble, crow, twitter). Semantically, according to the source of sound, onomatopoeic words fall into a few very definite groups. Many verbs denote sounds produced by human being in the process of communication or in expressing their feelings {babble, chatter, giggle, murmur). There are sounds produced by animals, birds and insects {cackle, croak, crow, hiss). Besides the verbs imitating the sound of water {bubble, splash), there are others imitating the noise of metallic things {clink, tinkle) or forceful motion {clash, crash, whisk).

Sentence-condensation is the formation of new words by substantivizing the whole locutions (forget-me-not, merry-go-round).

Sound and stress interchange (distinctive stress, the shift of stress). The essence of it is that to form a new word the stress of the word is shifted to a new syllable. It mostly occurs in nouns and verbs. Some phonetic changes may accompany the shift of the stress {export-to export, increase - to increase, break — breach).

Seminar 1. Theme: Etymological survey of the English word-stock. Word-formation in Modern English

Plan:

1. Etymological survey of the English word-stock:

e) definition of native terms, borrowing, translation loan, semantic loan. Words
of native origin and their characteristics;

f) foreign elements in Modern English. Scandinavian borrowings, classical
elements - Latin and Greek, French borrowings, Ukrainian-English lexical
correlations;

g) assimilation of borrowings. Types and degrees of assimilation;
h) international words.

2. Word-formation in Modern English:

h) the morphological structure of a word. The morpheme. The principles of

morphemic analysis. Types of morphemes. Structural types of words:

simple, derived, compound words.

i) productivity. Productive and non-productive ways of word-formation. j) affixation. General characteristics of suffixes and prefixes. Classification of

prefixes. Classification of suffixes. Productive and non-productive affixes,

dead and living affixes. k) word - composition. Classification of compound words. Coordinative and

subordinate compound words and their types. 1) conversion, its definition.

m) shortening. Lexical abbreviations. Acronyms. Clipping. n) non-productive means of word formation. Blending. Back-formation.

Onomatopoeia. Sentence-condensation. Sound and stress interchange.

Recommended Literature

1. Kveselevich D.I., Sasina V JP. Modern English Lexicology in Practice. -
Житомир, 2000., 118 c.

2. Reading in Modern Lexicology: Хрестоматія з порівняльної лексикології. -
Черкаси, 2002-160 с.

3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. - L., 1986. - p. 252-262.

4. Мостовий M.I. Лексикологія англійської мови. - Харків, 1993. - с. 151-174.

Exercises:

Exercise 1. Analyse the following words from the point of view of the type and degree of assimilation. State which words are: a) completely assimilated; b) partially assimilated; c) non-assimilated:

Prima-doona, ox, caftan, city, school, mazurka, table, street, they, century, sky, wall, stimulus, reduce, cup, present.

Exercise 2. The following are loan translations (calques). What do they actually mean in English? How and when they are used?

The moment of truth (Sp. El momento de la verdad); with a grain of salt (L. cum grano salis); underground movement (Fr. L. movement souterrain); that goes without saying (Fr. Cela va sans dire).

Exercise 3. Read the following text. Find the international words. State to what sphere of human activity they belong.

British dramatists.

In the past 20 years there has been a considerable increase in the number of new playwrights in Britain and has been encouraged by the growth of new theatre companies. In 1956 the English Stage Company began productions with the object of bringing new writers into the theatre and providing training facilities for young actors, directors and designers; a large number of new dramatists emerged as a result of the company productions. Television has been an important factor in the emergence of other dramatists who write primarily for it; both the BBC and IBA transmit a large number of single plays each year as well as drama series and serials.

Exercise 4. Analyse the following words morphologically and classify them according to what part of speech they belong to:

Post-election, appoint, historic, mainland, classical, letterbox, outcome, displease, step, incapable, supersubtle, illegible, incurable, adjustment, ladyhood, elastic, perceptible, inaccessible, partial, ownership, idealist, hero, long-term, corporate.

Exercise 5. Classify the compound words in the following sentences into compounds proper and derivational compounds:

1) She is not a mind-reader. 2) He was wearing a brand-new overcoat and hat. 3) She never said she was homesick. 4) He took the hours-old dish away. 5) She was a frank-mannered, talkative young lady. 6) The five years of her husband’s newspaper-ownership had familiarized her almost unconsciously with many of the mechanical aspects of a newspaper printing-shop. 7) The parlour, brick-floored, with bare table and shiny chairs and sofa stuffed with horsehair seemed never to have been used. 8) He was heart-lidded eyes and the disorder of his scanty hair made him look sleepy.

Exercise 6. Give English equivalents of the following German words. Translate the following words into Ukrainian.

Hand, Arm, Finger, Bär, Fuchs, Kalb, Eiche, Gras, Regen, Frost, Winter, Sommer, See, Land, Haus, Raum, Bank, Boot, Schiff, grün, blau, grau, weiß, schmal, dick, heiß, alt, gut, sehen, hören, sprechen, machen, geben, trinken, antworten, sagen.

Exercise 7. a) Pick out the Ukrainian borrowings from the following sentences. b) Translate the sentences into Ukrainian.

1. They tried to reveal the mystery of the legendary Hetman Pavlo Polubotok’s treasures. 2. The first donation of 1.000000 Karbovanets was made by the Lviv Regional State Administration. 3. Ulraine is the biggest supplier of horilka. 4. The Association “Svit Kultury” has done a lot: it organized the international festivals of Ukrainian songs “Zoloti Trembity”, competitions spring songs: gaivki, vernianki;… Christmas songs – shchedrivki, koliadki. 6. The tune to the concert was set by kobzar Pavlo Suprun…. 7. Regional ethnographers of Zaporizhya have found evidence of scholars’ suppositions that Zaporizhyan Cossachs had an undersea fleet.

Exercise 8. Define the particular type of word-building process by which the following words were made and say as much as you can about them.

a mike; to babysit; to buzz; a torchlight; homelike; theatrical; old-fashioned; to book; unreasonable; SALT (Strategic Armament Limitation Talks); Anglo-American; to murmur; okay; a make; merry-go-round; H-bag; BBC; MP; to thunder; earthquake; fatalism.

Exercise 9. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian. Discuss the words in bold type.

1. The faculty for myth is innate in the human race (W.S.Maugham). 2. She had long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream. 3. “That door leads to the long passage and then into the front hall,” she said. The doctor chuckled “Wrong, my dear. That door leads to the conservatory ”. 4. For a half-century Toscanini reigned supreme in the popular estimation as the world’s greatest conductor.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23